Options Expand for Crohn's Disease Patients

Drugs on Market and in Trials
Show Promise in Treatment;
Surgery Gets New Attention

By

Avery Johnson

Updated Jan. 9, 2007 12:01 a.m. ET

After decades of relying on little more than steroids, victims of a painful digestive disease are starting to see a wider range of treatment options, from new drugs to promising surgical techniques.

Crohn's disease, a debilitating and incurable digestive ailment, affects about one million people world-wide -- a 10-fold increase since World War II by some estimates, which doctors speculate is due to a confluence of environment and genetics. Crohn's is an immune disorder that causes inflammation deep in the lining of the...